GB2341752A

GB2341752A - Mobile telephone receiving time signal from base station

Info

Publication number: GB2341752A
Application number: GB9820207A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tina Clark
Original assignee: TELLIT COMMUNICATIONS Ltd; Radio Design Ltd
Current assignee: TELLIT COMMUNICATIONS Ltd; Radio Design Ltd
Priority date: 1998-09-16
Filing date: 1998-09-16
Publication date: 2000-03-22
Also published as: GB9820207D0

Abstract

A mobile telephone includes means for receiving a time signal which is broadcast from base stations. The time signal may be broadcast on the forward control channel and the correct time be displayed to the user automatically or upon request. The arrangement insures that the time displayed is correct for local time zones and seasonal time variation.

Description

2341752 MOBILE TELEPHONES The present invention relates to mobile

telephones, in particular the features available to the mobile telephone user.

Although the use of mobile telephones, and the number of features available to the user, have proliferated in recent years, there are still problems associated with the mobile telephone.

For example, there are times when people owning a mobile telephone do not particularly wish to be disturbed. Usually the mobile telephone is then switched off. When the user subsequently is willing to take calls, they may forget to switch the mobile telephone back on and so needlessly miss calls.

It is an object of the present invention to provide additional features for mobile telephones, and to alleviate some of the problems encountered with their use.

According to the present invention, there is provided a mobile telephone system in which a mobile telephone includes means for receiving a time signal broadcast from mobile telephone base stations, and one or more base stations which transmit such time signals. By time, a point in time, that is the time of day, is meant, and not a period of time from an arbitrary point which is sometimes provided by a timer included within the mobile telephone. Preferably, the time signal is broadcast upon the forward control channel.

The correct time will enable additional features to be included in a mobile telephone. By providing the mobile telephone with a signal indicating the correct time, the mobile telephone may display the time to the user automatically or upon request, or the mobile telephone may simply use the signal in order to correct an inbuilt clock.

1 Also according to the present invention, there is provided a mobile telephone system having a mobile telephone which includes means for receiving a location identifier signal broadcast from mobile telephone base stations, and one or more base stations which transmit such time signals.

Since the location of the mobile telephone is usually within the cell of base station it is receiving, the location of the base station also gives the mobile telephone its own location. The location information, both by itself and when combined with the time information, may provide further useful functions. Preferably, the location identifier is transmitted on the forward control channel.

In a cellular mobile telephone network, each mobile telephone and its nearest base station are continually exchanging data. The mobile telephone checks which base station is the closest by scanning a frequency range and selecting the frequency with the strongest signal, which will usually correspond to the closest base station. The base station constantly checks which mobile telephones are locked onto its frequency, and so within its cell, by means of a forward control channel (FOCC) transmission.

The base station must always be aware which mobile telephones are within its cell, so that it can route incoming calls to them. The FOCC sends instructions to all mobile phones locked onto its frequency, requiring them to respond, and so establish contact.

In the present system the FOCC is preferably modified so as to contain a signal, which when decoded, indicates the correct time. The date is likewise preferably transmitted on the FOCC.

The adapted cellular mobile telephone contains clock circuitry. The M time value of the clock is updated at predetermined intervals, though it does not have to update itself with each time signal provided from the FOCC, and the frequency of the updating will depend on the number of operations which can be performed and the accuracy of the clock.

2 1 The provision of the actual local time will allow many time dependent Rinctions to be included in the mobile telephone.

The time data included should be encoded in a standardized way (for example, a standard to be agreed by a body such as GSM), so that the system may be used across the widest possible area.

The time signal broadcast upon the modified FOCC will normally be correct for the local time zone and seasonal time variation (that is summer and winter time). Therefore, the mobile telephone's clock may be continually corrected as the user moves through time zones. The GMT time may also be included. Alternatively, a GMT time signal and a time zone correction factor could be transmitted.

The FOCC is preferably also adapted so as to provide an unique identifier code, so that the mobile telephone will be provided with the location of the base station it is using. The location identifier could encode a latitude and longitude, or the name of an area. This will allow location dependent functions to be offered with the mobile telephone, most fimdamentally, the mobile telephone user's current location.

Once the mobile telephone is cognizant of time and location, the mobile telephone may be fimiished with a range of interesting features which are dependent on either the time or the location or even both.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, With reference to the drawing, which shows a schematic representation of the operation of the mobile telephone.

A mobile telephone has the usual facilities such as a receiver and decoder unit 20, a display screen 24 and a keypad 26. In addition, it is provided with a clock 22, a location memory 3 2, a call made memory -3) 4, a diary memory 36 and a processing unit 30. The location and call memories will be contained within the mobile telephone's RAM memory, and the 3 processing unit will conveniently be the processing Unit already present in the mobile telephone, but it is convenient to treat them separately.

A mobile telephone will continually scan a pre-programmed selection of frequencies until it finds some of an acceptable strength. It will then select the strongest of these, which is likely to be from the closest base station; the mobile telephone is thus within the base station's cell. The data that the base station 10 is sending at this frequency, the foreword control channel (FOCC), contains, amongst other information, instructions to the mobile telephone to respond to the base station, this being known as polling. The mobile telephone will then transmit over the reverse control channel (RECC) its identifier, so that the mobile may be reached when it has an incoming call.

This is the conventional process. In the present system, the FOCC is modified to contain two additional items of information, a time code and a base station identifier code.

The mobile telephone's receiver and decoder unit 20 decodes this and the other data sent in the FOCC. The time signal is sent to the mobile telephone's clock 22 and updates it. The clock need only calculate the time in the period which elapses between the separate time signals. The time is then sent from the clock to the other parts of the mobile telephone which may have use for it.

The time signal from the clock is made available to be displayed upon the mobile telephone's screen 24 automatically or at the user's prompting.

The location code is similarly extracted from the FOCC by the decoder and is sent to the processor. When the location code changes, it is sent to the location memory 32, where it is stored, and the time when this occurs is also recorded. The latest location is sent, like the time signal, to parts of the mobile telephone where it is required.

4 The location can similarly be displayed upon the mobile telephone's screen. This could be useful for users who are lost and wish to know where they are.

Most mobile telephones already have facilities for storing telephone numbers in a memory known as a phonebook. A similar memory, the call made memory 34, is provided, which has inputs from the clock and the processing unit. When a call is made, the telephone number dialled and current time are recorded, as is the time at which the call is tenrninated.

A log may be extracted from the location memory detailing the movements of the mobile telephone user between different base station cells, and the time at which these movements occurred. Similarly, the call made memory can be prompted to give a log of the outgoing mobile telephone calls, again with respect to time. By checking the location value at a particular time when a call was made, the log of calls made can include the location from which they have been made from.

The user may enter items into the diary memory 36 via the mobile telephone's keypad 26, selected from a menu displayed upon the mobile telephone's screen, so that the data entered in the diary memory is properly formatted. Each data entry includes a time value and at least one other parameter. The other parameters include telephone number, an answerphone value, a rerouting value, and an alarm call value, the answerphone, rerouting and alarm values are all either 0 or I to indicate whether they are off or on.

The user may enter a time and one or more other parameters through the mobile telephone's control panel in response to choices presented to them on the display. In this way, disallowed combinations of parameters can be excluded. The processing unit continually compares the time value from the clock with the time values contained in the diary memory. When the two values coincide, the processor unit will cause a particular operation to be carried out, depending on which other parameters are present in 3 conjunction with the diary's time value. Exact time value coincidence is not needed to trigger an operation, as a small tolerance is included so that a diary entry will not be missed if the clock is updated so as to cause a short skip in the time value.

An alarm value of 1 will cause an audible alarm to sound at the time value for which the alarm value has been entered. A answerphone value or rerouting value of 1 will cause these flirictions to be switched on until a value of 0 with a particular time value is detected, at which point the functions will switch off. The answerphone function will cause incoming callers to be invited to record a message upon the mobile telephone at the time the function is switched on. Similarly, whilst the rerouting function is switched on, incoming calls will be diverted to another mobile telephone.

When this option is being selected by the user, the entry will only be accepted with a value for the telephone number present, and the calls Will be sent to this number.

Functions such as the rerouting function and the answerphone function are present in mobile telephones already. More variables may be added to produce more sophisticated time dependent functions, or even location dependent functions, using new functions added to the mobile telephone or utilizing functions already present in mobile telephones.

The clock's time value preferably includes a date component, so that a function can be programmed to be executed at a specified time of day on a particular date. If this is not done, the diary so far described would either repeat every day, or clear itself every day as the day progressed (a variable could be included to indicate whether a function should repeat or be automatically cleared.) -10 It will be realised that the organisation of the memory and the operation of the functions described here may also be implemented in other ways well known in the art. For instance, it may be preferred to divide the possible time values in the diary memory into discrete intervals, and set the other values to zero by default. Upon the user entering a start and end 3 time, the processor sets the relevant parameter to 1 over the whole period.

6 The diary memory need not store its data in either of these forms, but may instead store it in a coded form, to reduce the amount of memory needed. The processor will then decode the data as it is needed.

Since the clock will change if the user switches between base stations in different time zones, the time value set in the diary memory can be switched, by means of another parameter, to be either on GMT, BST, local time or a a particular time zone. The processor will then make the appropriate conversion to perform the function at the requested time. It should be remembered that if a function is requested to be carried out at the local time in whichever time zone the user happens to be in, then there is a possibility that the clock will advance by a complete hour, or half an hour, depending upon which time zones they are crossing between, and that as a result, a particular time value in the diary memory may be jumped over.

Various strategies could be used to overcome this, such as programming the processor to search the diary memory for such occurrences upon a change of time, and to sound an alarm and display the problem upon the mobile telephones screen to alert the user, and allow them the opportunity to enter another time value in the diary memory.

Many other flinctions can be operated by such a diary system, by including more parameters to be stored in the diary memory, so that the processor will cause a particular flinction to be carried out when the diary memory's time value is met and the corresponding parameter has an 'on' value.

The date could instead be generated within the telephone rather than included in the transmissions, since during normal use the change in time through travel or season is unlikely to be in steps greater than an hour at a 3 )o time, so the changing of the date is easily calculated.

Although the time signal and the location identifier described in this embodiment are encoded upon the FOCC, other channels could be used to transmit this data from the base stations to the mobile telephones.

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Claims

1. A mobile telephone system comprising a mobile telephone having a decoder for decoding base station transmissions, the decoder being able to decode signals indicating the time included in the transmissions, and a transmission means for transmitting signals from a base station to a mobile telephone, the signals including such time indications. 10

2. A mobile telephone system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission in which the time indication is contained is the forward control channel.

3. A mobile telephone system comprising a mobile telephone having a decoder for decoding base station transmissions, the decoder being able to decode signals indicating the location of the base station included in the transmissions, and a transmission means for transmitting signals from a base station to a mobile telephone, the signals including such location 20 indications.

4. A mobile telephone system according to claim 3, wherein the transmission in which the time indication is contained is the forward control channel. 25

5. A mobile telephone having a decoder for decoding base station transmissions, the decoder being able to decode signals indicating the time included in the transmission.

6. A mobile telephone according to claim 5, wherein the transmission in which the time indication is contained is the forward control channel.

7. A mobile telephone according to claim 6, wherein there is included a clock which is continually updated from the decoded time signal. 5

8 8. A mobile telephone according to any previous claim, wherein the mobile telephone has a screen upon which the time may be displayed.

9. A mobile telephone having a decoder for decoding base station transmissions, the decoder being able to decode signals indicating the base station's location included in the forward control channel.

10. A mobile telephone according to claim 9, wherein the transmission in which the signal indicating the base station's location is contained is the forward control channel.

11. A mobile telephone according to claim 10, including a memory where the base statiods location may be stored.

12. A mobile telephone according to claim 11, wherein the time at which a particular location is indicated is stored in association with that location.

13. A mobile telephone according to claim 11 or 12, wherein a record of the locations which have been indicated to the mobile telephone can be displayed on the screen.

14. A mobile telephone according to claim 13, wherein the record of the locations displayed included the times at which the locations were indicated.

15. A mobile telephone according to any previous claim, wherein there is included a call made memory where the telephone numbers of outgoing calls made may be stored.

16. A mobile telephone according to claim 15, wherein the time at which an outgoing call was made is stored in association with the telephone number of that outgoing call.

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17. A mobile telephone according to claim 15 or 16, wherein a record of the telephone numbers of outgoing calls made can be displayed on the screen.

18. A mobile telephone according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the record of the telephone numbers displayed include the times at which the calls were made.

19. A mobile telephone according to any previous claim, wherein the mobile telephone has a diary memory upon which may be stored a time and one or more variables indicating a function or functions, such that when that time is reached, the function indicated is carried out.

20. A mobile telephone according to claim 19, wherein the mobile telephone has an alarm and one of the functions to be carried out is the sounding of the alarm included in the mobile telephone.

2 1. A mobile telephone according to claim 20, wherein the mobile telephone has an answerphone and one of the functions to be carried out is the automatic answering of calls by the answerphone.

22. A mobile telephone according to claim 20, wherein the mobile telephone has a rerouting facility for causing an incoming call to be sent instead to a different mobile telephone and one of the functions to be carried out is the automatic rerouting of calls.

23. A transmitting means for transmitting signals from a base station to a mobile telephone which includes means for transmitting a time signal.

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24. A transmitting means for transmitting signals from a base station to a mobile telephone which includes means for transmitting a date signal.

25. A transmitting means for transmitting signals from a base station to a mobile telephone which includes means for transmitting a location identifier.

26. Any novel and inventive feature or combination of features specifically disclosed herein within the meaning of Article H of the International -1. -. - Convention (Paris Convention).

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